Schwayze, how did you get in here?

I've been spooked a lot lately. No, it's not because of Halloween. I was spooked before Halloween even happened. No, for some reason I've been spooked about the spirit that lives in my house. For the entire time I've lived in my house, I've occasionally seen a young girl walk through my living room from one side of the house to the other. I can't see her when I'm looking straight at her, I only see her zip past out of the corner of my eye. I'm not the only person who has seen her either. Every member of my family except kidlet #2 has seen her so I know it's not just me being crazy. Our ghost girl never does anything scary, she just walks somewhat quickly through the living room and she's gone.

I was pretty used to seeing her and the thought of spirits in my house didn't bother me too much until recently. I am spooked by people I can't see. It's more like I feel them. As I enter my living room, I feel like someone is rushing right at me as if to say "boo" and then run off. You know how your head involuntarily jerks back when something flies at your face? That's what I feel like doing.

I find myself constantly looking through the living room and down the hall to see if I can see anyone/anything, which I never do. It's crazy and I can't explain it exactly. Kidlet #1 wakes up later than the rest of us since she's a big college girl now and doesn't go to classes until a reasonable hour of the morning. She's told me that once the house gets quiet, she hears all kinds of things that freak her out. Muffled voices talking, drawers opening, etc.. For the longest time I just poo pooed what she said, thinking that she was hearing the neighbors outside or something but my mind is slowly changing.

First I noticed that my skin was tingly and crawly and I felt like someone was looking at me. Then I started hearing random knocks on the walls. I used to play a game with little kidlet where she'd be on one side of the wall and I'd be on the other side and we'd knock back and forth. But the knocking I've been hearing happens when she's not here. No one was at home when I've heard it. Creepy, huh? Next I felt like someone was rushing towards me at a high rate of speed and stopping right in front of my face, yelling. I didn't hear anything and didn't feel a breeze but I swear, something rushed me.

This morning put the icing on the cake. I put my kitty Schwayze outside for his morning rituals then locked the doors and went to take a shower. When I got out of the shower, Schwayze was sitting on my bed. I checked the doors to make sure they were closed (and they were), I checked to make sure the windows were closed (and they were) and yet there he was in my room. I really, really, really wish cats could talk so I could ask him how he got in.

Later in the day I was comparing notes with big kidlet because she has been having issues as well. She keeps hearing voices, seeing things out of the corner of her eye and feels like someone is hovering around her. I feel watched as well so the spook factor just ratcheted up a few notches. Together we decided to take action. First, we drug out the Ouija board and tried to communicate with "whoever." The little pointer thingy moved a little bit but we figured we were inadvertently moving it. Next, I did a little online research to find out how to cleanse the house and we took a little trip down the road to a spiritual connections shop and picked up a bundle of sage.

While we were there, the shop lady started talking to us to gather infomation to figure out what we needed. As we were talking she closed her eyes and got silent then proceeded to tell me that someone close to me who had recently passed away was trying to tell me/us to slow down and think about a big decision one of us was trying to make. She said that whoever it was, had to act in a big way to get our attention. She didn't think that "it" was menacing, "it" was simply trying to get our attention. We got our sage and headed home.

We racked our brains trying to figure out what decision we were trying to make and so far we've come up empty. I'm not saying I totally buy into all of the spiritual stuff but I figure it can't hurt. We lit the sage to cleanse the house and asked the spirits nicely to refrain from scaring us. Then we had to come up with some kind of symbol or sign and ask my deceased relative to let me know if it's them that's trying to get my attention. Strangely enough, I don't feel so skittish in my home since I spoke to the shop lady. Maybe it was her power of suggestion - that the thing that haunts me isn't out to hurt me. All I know is I hope to put an end to my jitters. If it takes waving sage smoke around my house and talking out loud to the air, I'll do it. Now, if my kitty mysteriously winds up inside or outside of the house when I didn't facilitate it, I'll get the shivers. I might wave sage smoke around again. Whatever it takes. I want my peaceful home back.